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Thursday, January 24, 2013

No matter what you're trying to learn, it helps if you know how to learn so you don't waste a lot of time.

HowToStudy.org is a great site that brings together lots of tips from many reliable sources (including lots of colleges). Some of the tips are aimed at a particular subject—for instance, Math or Speech. Other tips are good for studying in general—for example, how to develop and meet goals and how to deal with procrastination.

The site's most frequently accessed resource is the Assignment Calculator. You plug in the date a paper or project is due, and the calculator breaks it into steps (e.g., develop topic, write preliminary thesis, gather sources). The steps are spread out over the period you have to work on the assignment, so you don't fall into the trap of thinking you'll do everything at the last minute. It also helps you structure your work so you do a better job.

Check out the How to Study Model, a diagram that shows all the different functions you need to perform when you study.

One neat thing about the site is that students can write reviews of the different resources. For example, here's what 16 students said about using a day planner.

The person who runs HowToStudy.org is a retired community college instructor, with years of experience working with students, and the site has won awards from education groups.

I tried out Quizlet last week and like it. You can create your own flashcards, or you can use sets that other people made (I tried out trigonometry definitions, geometry formulas, and beginning French vocabulary). You can run through the flashcards and then, when you're ready take a quiz. It's kind of fun and seems like a good tool.